How many PC deaths do you see per session?

[Henry]

It's hard to give an average, but I'd have to guess about one per four sessions. We do allow resurrection magic usually, so it's not so bad, and the resurrections/raise deads allow for some good favors owed to the churches in question.

In our Eberron campaign, I am intentionally limiting Resurrection magics, because I want dangerous situations to have more punch to them - but I also allow a new PC to come back in at the level the previous character died at, so it's not as bad. So far, in four sessions We've (once again) only had one death.

Guess I should be preparing for another PC death soon, huh, Torm?

 

[reanjr]

This is a current discussion in our game group. One player insists that playing D&D, one player death per session is the norm. Having played D&D for almost 12 years now (he's played longer than me), I don't see this being normal. He insists that it has nothing to do with being a killer GM, it's just the norm for the system. Any comments? How many deaths occur in your game per session?

Well, D&D is designed for a party of four players. It is also designed so that 14 encounters should raise their level. Assuming a session contains about 5 encounters (?), the party would level every three sessions, and one of them would die each session. A single party member would actually be able to raise their level. Every three sessions. Seems like good progression to me.

Seriously, though, it's up to the DM. If they want to play a realistic game, then that sounds reasonable. It should slow down as the party gains in level, though, for demographic and story reasons.

 

[Faerl'Elghinn]

TPK every session. My players love a good challenge, and love to make new characters. I wonder what I'd do if one ever survived...

 

[DragonLancer]

I voted Other.

My current campaign has been running since beginning of the year, playing once a week for 4 hour stretches. In that time, we've had 2 PC deaths... one right near the beginning and the other about half way through.

It happens when it happens.

 

[Seeker95]

Since 1978, I as DM have had one TPK (four PCs), one nearTPK (four out of six) and perhaps six solo deaths. Fourteen PC deaths in 26 years.

As a player over that same span of time, I have had three characters die, one of which died twice (resurrection after the first) and two of which I left dead. Three characters with five deaths between them.

So if we expand your chart, assuming a session a week, I would end up at roughly one death per 71 sessions. However, one session a week is not the true average, even if you account for my play-every-day summers during high school. So if we make it only one session a month, I end up with one death every sixteen sessions.

The truth is probably somewhere in between.

 

[Rackhir]

One character death per session means you are running with a "Killer" DM. Somebody who likes killing PCs. Generally to me, this means you should find a different DM.

 

[Feathercircle]

In all of SIX CAMPAIGNS I've seen a grand total of about six or seven deaths... and one of those was when a player deliberately ran his character into a suicidal battle just so that he could roll up a new one that wasn't so unbalanced. Granted, not all of these campaigns ran to completion... but it's a far cry even from one death per four sessions.

 

[Thanee]

Thanee you have lots of Barbarian/Dragon Disciples in the party or a very patient DM

I don't quite get the use of "patient" in this context.

BTW, all three deaths of that PC were in the same adventure (which was quite long-running, I think we leveled from 8th~9th to 10th~11th during that adventure alone). The last time he and the paladin (both died in the same overwhelming combat) were True Resurrected, however, this way we already have the plot hook for the next adventure, since we are now in debt of the church who did this.

Bye
Thanee

 

[kenobi65]

In the three 3.0 / 3.5 campaigns I've run:

#1: 2 PC deaths over 30-odd sessions
#2: 1 PC death over 20-odd sessions (so far)
#3: 0 PC deaths over 7 sessions (so far)

I've been playing D&D for 22 years (sometimes very regularly, sometimes very irregularly). In the groups I've played in, PC deaths were fairly infrequent (though, almost never irreversible, thanks to resurrection magic). I think, across all those games, I've had a PC die four times (and, only once was it permanent).

That said, I have been part of two TPKs. One was in the original Ravenloft (one of the most infamous killer modules; we all stayed dead), the other was somewhere in the Underworld / Vault of the Drow series (a lich killed us all, but our cleric had a ring of regeneration and a ring of wishes, and brought us all back).

 

[Rel]

We average about 1 death per 10 sessions. And, while this is absolutely not planned, it seems just about perfect for our group. More often than that and the story starts to lose a bit of cohesion. Less often and the PC's tend to forget that it CAN happen to them.

I hadn't really thought about it recently, but this ratio is a powerful testament to the player's tactical abilities in the games that I run. Because I throw some NASTY stuff at them and, most often, they survive. Good for them.